Police Log

Posted
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 1:00 pm

The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Warwick Police

MISSING JEWELRYWarwick detective Barbara Frazier reported that she closed a case concerning some jewelry that went missing from a Glenwood Drive residence on Dec. 3 of last year. Frazier reported she was assigned the case on Dec. 6 and took the suspect’s name to several gold and silver dealers in the area to see if the suspect’s name was associated with any sales or pawns made recently. She said she found two of the rings in one store and was told the suspect got $300 for those rings but learned that a third one was already sold to someone else. Frazier said she took the remaining rings back to the owner. A second dealer returned three of the items that were bought from the suspect and told Frazier he was familiar with the seller and that she actually told him that she had been staying with a disabled man on Glenwood Drive while the man’s wife ran errands. Frazier said she eventually connected the suspect with 10 missing pieces of jewelry valued at $11,200, of which only $4,800 was returned to the victim. Frazier said all attempts to locate the rest of the jewelry were unsuccessful and she officially closed the investigation on Jan. 22. Susan J. Whittingham, 62, of 2 Shalom Dr. in Warwick had already been arrested on Dec. 10 and charged with one count of felony larceny and two counts of obtaining money under false pretenses. She was released on surety bail on Dec. 12.

SHOPLIFTINGOfficer John Curley reported he was dispatched to the Wal-Mart store on Post Road around 3 p.m. on Jan. 21 for a shoplifting in progress. Loss prevention agents told Curley they began to follow two men around the store after they saw one of them take a car stereo into the men’s room while the other put a car battery in a cart and wheeled it out of the store through the Garden Center. They turned that suspect over to police and informed Curley that the other suspect was still in the men’s room. Curley said he went into the men’s room and found the other suspect in a stall tampering with the security device attached to the radio. The man was arrested and Curley said he asked the man what the two extra strength magnets he was carrying were used for and the suspect told him he saw a video on YouTube that showed how magnets could be used to defeat security devices on certain items. Sean Ledo, 20, of 293 Alabama Ave. in Providence was charged with tampering with a security device. His companion, identified as Manuel A. Cabrera, 40, of 184 Arlington Ave. in Warwick was charged with stealing a car battery worth $99.87. The car stereo was priced at $75.96.Officer Eric Lima reported he was dispatched to the Nordstrom Rack at the Warwick Mall for a shoplifting suspect in custody around 5:40 p.m. on Jan. 19. A loss prevention agent for the store told Lima he saw the woman selecting a number of items from the accessories department and then entered the ladies restroom with them. A female loss prevention agent told Lima she saw that the woman had several sales tickets in her possession and also saw her take more items before going into a fitting room and concealing them in her purse before walking out of the store without paying for the concealed goods. Yvonne Mae Cooper, 60, of 126 Greenwood Dr. in South Kingstown was charged with shoplifting $167.82 worth of merchandise.Officer James Vible reported going to the Wal-Mart on Post Road on Jan. 19 for a shoplifting in progress around 2:30 p.m. He said a loss prevention officer pointed out a man walking out of the store when Vible arrived and Vible stopped him and found a $34.96 “Sons of Anarchy” DVD in his jacket with the price still on it. Vible said Angel Hernandez, 37, of 70 Academy Ave. in Providence was taken to headquarters where he would have been given a summons for District Court except that there was an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in District Court on prior charges. He was given the summons and then transported to the ACI.

DUI AND REFUSALOfficer Jacob Elderkin reported a hit and run accident in front of a house on Buttonwoods Avenue around 5:45 p.m. on Jan. 15. A driver there told Elderkin that she had been rear-ended by a car that subsequently drove off toward Main Avenue. Elderkin said he followed a trail of fluids onto Main Avenue and found the suspect vehicle at the end of it. He said the driver was still in the car and she admitted she hit a car on Buttonwoods and drove off because she was scared but didn’t get very far because the car shut down due to the heavy front end damage. He said the driver told him she wasn’t injured and could take a field sobriety test. He said she failed the test and she was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. Michelle L. Monahan, 32, of 54 Lyman Ave. in Warwick, was taken to headquarters where she blew a .348 and a .368 blood alcohol content on the breath test. She was charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. Elderkin said Monahan was taken to Kent Hospital for detox out of concern for the blood alcohol level. She was left in the care and custody of the staff.Officer Michael Walker reported an accident between a light pole and a car on Greenwich Avenue around 1:42 a.m. on Jan. 20. He said he arrived to find the pole down and three vehicles pulled over to the side of the road about 110 yards to the east. He said the driver of the car that hit the pole told him she was coming out of the parking lot for Fat Belly’s Pub when she lost control and hit the pole. The driver of the other car told him she was just there to help her friend. The driver of the third car said she was driving along when the pole fell down before she could stop her car and she rolled over it, blowing out her right front tire. She said she was expecting AAA to come for the car any minute. Walker said the driver failed a field sobriety test and was taken to headquarters where she refused a breath test. Chelsea M. Sivo, 23, of 94 Wollaston St. in Cranston was charged with DUI and refusal and later released to a sober adult.Officer Melissa Schlitzer reported she was on patrol around 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 20 when she saw a car go through a red light at Main Avenue and Post Road and then stop in the middle of the intersection. She said she pulled up to the car and saw that the driver’s head was down and his eyes closed. She said she activated her lights and siren to have him pull over but he did not respond. She said she hit the air horn three times, which woke him up but he was lethargic as he looked up and then pulled over. She said the driver smelled of alcohol and appeared to be drunk. She said he agreed to a sobriety field test but she had to stop him for fear he would fall and injure himself. James Olson, 31, of 1206 Cohannet St. in Taunton, Mass., was taken to headquarters where he refused to take a breath test. He was charged with traffic violations, DUI and refusal and later released to a sober adult after appearing before the bail commissioner.Officer Daniel DiMaio reported he was on patrol around 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 18 when he was dispatched to Jonathan Court for a hit and run accident between a mailbox and a Volkswagen GTI with a Rhode Island vanity plate that spelled “ZOMBEE.” He said a search for the car was unsuccessful but he got a call shortly after that saying the car was in the parking lot of the Hess gas station on Airport Road. He said they arrived to find the car with the engine running and the driver asleep at the wheel. He said they banged on the window to wake him up and when he did wake, he looked puzzled and started revving the engine in neutral. DiMaio said he put it in drive but the car stalled. He said the driver refused to roll down the window or get out of the car so they broke the window before he tried to drive off again because the car was pointed at the gas pumps. He said they grabbed the keys and pulled the driver from the car, where he continued to struggle. He said the driver did not cooperate with a field sobriety test and was taken to headquarters. DiMaio said an inventory search of the vehicle turned up a hatchet and two knives and a jar containing what looked like marijuana. DiMaio said the driver refused a breath test at headquarters and was charged with DUI, refusal and possession of marijuana. The hatchet and knives were determined to be rock-climbing equipment and it was returned to a sober adult who also took custody of Zachary A. Meek, 25, of 96 Farnum Rd. in Chepatchet.